Oh gosh, there’s a name from a long time ago.
Poor Ken Wahl. Born in 1954 he started to appear in films when in his mid twenties and by the late 1980s Hollywood was trying to sell him as as the next big thing, a sort of Joe average who could play bad boys and reluctant heroes in action movies. However two things kind of ruined that for Wahl. One is this guy…
Bruce Willis filled that void after the astonishing success of Die Hard (1988) and never looked back. The viewing public also warmed to Willis in a way they didn’t to Wahl. That plus the fact that Willis was a better actor anyway with a more natural on screen personality didn’t help Wahl.
The second reason was the failure of this film in 1991.
The Taking of Beverly Hills was a $20 million film (directed by action specialist Sidney J Furie) intended to propel Wahl’s career to the next level. However the release was delayed by several months due to distributor Orion Pictures going into receivership during post production whilst it was being trailered in cinemas. Eventually a new distributor picked it up but the film became a colossal turkey on its release, making back about $1 million. Rightly or wrongly many critics put much of the blame on Wahl, saying his acting was ‘wooden’.The film went straight to video in the rest of the world and Wahl’s career never recovered.
A keen motorbike rider, Wahl had an accident in 1992 and never properly recovered from a spinal and neck injury,, retiring from acting in 1994. He now works for a charity that helps people with PTSD.